2,400 Legislative Workers Go Unpaid as Budget Battle Continues

A deadline-breaking stalemate over a new state budget caused about 2,400 legislative employees to miss their first paychecks of the new fiscal year Friday.

Those who work for California’s 120-member Legislature are always among the earliest casualties of the Capitol’s budget battles.

Many unpaid employees are expected to take advantage of loans, some interest-free, offered to state workers by banks and credit unions.

It’s a hassle that the employees would prefer to skip.

“A lot of people realize that’s the way things work around here, but in the backs of their minds it’s kind of a bum deal,” said Darrin Lim, a spokesman for Assemblyman Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield) and one of those missing his paycheck.

“It just doesn’t seem fair,” he said.

The office of State Controller Kathleen Connell confirmed Friday that the employees’ roughly $3.5-million payroll had not gone out.

Connell previously had warned that some payments to local governments also might be delayed, including certain trial court payments due Monday.

Gov. Gray Davis, state lawmakers and the rest of California’s 250,000 employees could feel the squeeze at the end of the month, when they are supposed to receive their next paychecks.

The Senate approved a new spending package June 29 and sent it to the Assembly, where Republicans are objecting to $4 billion in new taxes and other revenue.

The delay caused Davis to miss a July 1 deadline for signing a new budget.

Some Democrats also have taken issue with the plan, which they contend does not contain enough new taxes.

Some believe the proposed levies would be regressive.

The Assembly’s next session is set for Monday, but it is unclear whether lawmakers will take up the spending package.